The present invention relates to a rollover protection device for motor vehicles and, more particularly, to a rollover protection element arranged on sides of the vehicle so as to be raised out of a lowered position in one plane into a supporting position where it is fixed.
German Patent No. 3,925,515 shows motor vehicles without a fixed roof equipped in the back with a rollover bar on which the vehicle rolls if it turns over. The rollover bar is further supported on the bonnet or on a windscreen frame of reinforced design, and thereby preserves the passenger compartment to the greatest possible extent and reduces the possibilities of injury to a vehicle occupant if the vehicle turns over. In order to guarantee support of the vehicle weight, however, the rollover bar should actually be placed within the passenger compartment, near to the vehicle occupants. Since this cannot always be achieved, for example for reasons of space, the rollover bar in the back, with its locking mechanism, and the support in the front zone must be of particularly rigid design.
To avoid impairing the appearance of the vehicle due to the rollover bar, it is also known to lower the rollover bar below the lateral edge of the vehicle and to move it into its operative position projecting above the said edge only as desired or as required. The drive necessary for this purpose and the approximately vertical orientation of the rollover bar behind rearward-sloping seats leads to problems in the accommodation of the rollover bar since, in the case of sporty-looking vehicles, the passenger compartment and the luggage space situated there behind are scanty and are severely limited in addition by a rollover bar fixed at that point. Arranging the rollover bar in the transverse direction of the vehicle can even make it impossible to place any rear seating behind these front seats.
An object on which the present invention is based is to fix an extendable rollover protection element such as a rollover bar in the central zone of a motor vehicle and as far as possible outside the passenger compartment.
This object has been achieved by providing that the rollover protection device extends approximately in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle and is arranged on each of the two sides of the vehicle body so that in the lowered position it is sunk in a side wall of the vehicle.
The rollover protection devices of the present invention aligned in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle on both sides of the vehicle body make good use of the available space in the vehicle side wall outside the passenger compartment. At the same time, the vehicle sides can be reinforced by the rollover protection element and by its guides against a side impact. If the rollover protection element is configured as a rollover bar, it is possible either to provide a pivotable rollover bar with a raisable limb that can be locked to the vehicle side wall via a known mechanism, or to insert into the vehicle side wall a rollover bar which can be raised parallel to the vehicle side wall.
In order to counteract buckling of the rollover bar in the transverse direction of the vehicle in the case of large loads during a vehicle overturn, the rollover bar can be provided with additional limbs which project in the transverse direction of the vehicle from its central piece extending in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle and are supported on the same vehicle side wall.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.